Horse Carriage Flips in Columbus Circle Accident, Witnesses Say

COLUMBUS CIRCLE — A horse-drawn carriage driver heading up Eighth Avenue towards Columbus Circle Thursday morning lost control of his animal and flipped over sideways in the middle of traffic.

The chestnut-colored horse was pulling a white carriage up Eighth Avenue near 57th Street about 10:15 a.m. when his driver lost control and hit a car, flipping the carriage onto the horse's hind legs, witnesses and the carriage driver said.

"I passed 57th Street and the horse starts acting crazy. He started kicking his back legs. I grabbed the reins and I must've yelled, 'Stop' 15 times," said carriage driver Frank Lou, 43, who works out of the Clinton Park Stables on 52nd Street near 11th Ave.

Lou, who said the horse's name is Chris, said he couldn't calm the steed down.

"He broke the whole front of the carriage and the fifth wheel. The harness trapped the back legs and he stopped," Lou said, adding, "I didn't do anything wrong. I did my job well. If I had gotten scared and jumped out [of the carriage], it would've been ten times worse."

"I still love the horse," Lou said, "Accidents happen."

Witnesses said the driver was shouting at the horse before the crash.

"It looked like the driver was having a fit. He was screaming. He couldn't control the horse," said Garth Burton, 48, a pedicab driver.

Burton said when the carriage flipped over, pinning the horse underneath, the driver "grabbed the horse by the head. The horse was trying to get out. He was on his legs," Burton said.

Burton said he and another good Samaritan lifted the white carriage, adorned with flowers and American flags, off of the struggling horse, eventually freeing it by slicing off its harness.

"The horse was kicking and flipping out. It fell back down a second time. It looked like it was going to keel over. We started cutting the harness [and] everyone started applauding," Burton said.

Police questioned Lou, but released him to lead the horse down Eighth Avenue to the Clinton Park Stables on 52nd Street near 11th Avenue.

Police evaluated the animal at the stables and said it was in "good condition," an NYPD spokesman said.

Chanelle Futrell, 31, a witness, said she saw what appeared to be minor injuries to the horse.

"The horse had an indentation on its right thighs. It was the size of a basketball," said Futrell, a dogwalker from Harlem, "Its eyes were wide open. It wasn't making any noise. The horse looked surprisingly calm," Futrell said.

Advocates seized on the incident as another example for why horse-drawn carriages should be banned.

"Animals don't belong in traffic. It's only a matter of time before an animal is seriously hurt or killed," said Allie Feldman, executive director of NYCLASS.